Beer Army brewery wins five medals at competition

Beer Army brewery won five medals — four bronze and one silver — competing against 50 breweries last weekend during the annual Carolinas Championship of Beer in Hickory.

Contributed photo

By Eddie Fitzgerald, Sun Journal Staff

Published: Thursday, May 1, 2014 at 04:39 PM.

TRENTON ­| After only a year, local Beer Army brewery in Jones County has been awarded medals for producing champion craft beers.

The company, owned and run mostly be Marines, with an outlet on U.S. 70 in the James City area, won five medals — four bronze and one silver — competing against 50 breweries last weekend during the annual Carolinas Championship of Beer in Hickory.

Nearly 300 beers were submitted for judging in this year’s CCB. Two weeks prior to the festival, more than 50 people convened to blind-judge the beers, entered in about 75 categories. The judging was based on very precise guidelines.

A group of experts certified by the Beer Judge Certification Program made up the panel of judges for the event, according to a press release from Beer Army.

Scott Andrews, public affairs officer for Beer Army, said the company entered six beers in the competition. Five of those were medal winners: Angels, a Belgium Blonde; Fire in the Hole, an Irish red ale; Carolina Belle, a honey, hibiscus, wheat ale; and Port of Arms, a robust porter, all won bronze medals. Beer Army’s Heros Never Die!!!, an American style, India pale ale, took silver, Andrews said.

“This was a huge deal for such a young company to bring home hardware like that,” he said. “It was really exciting.”

Beer Army competed with craft breweries all over North Carolina, and some that were well established, Andrews said.

TRENTON ­| After only a year, local Beer Army brewery in Jones County has been awarded medals for producing champion craft beers.

The company, owned and run mostly be Marines, with an outlet on U.S. 70 in the James City area, won five medals — four bronze and one silver — competing against 50 breweries last weekend during the annual Carolinas Championship of Beer in Hickory.

Nearly 300 beers were submitted for judging in this year’s CCB. Two weeks prior to the festival, more than 50 people convened to blind-judge the beers, entered in about 75 categories. The judging was based on very precise guidelines.

A group of experts certified by the Beer Judge Certification Program made up the panel of judges for the event, according to a press release from Beer Army.

Scott Andrews, public affairs officer for Beer Army, said the company entered six beers in the competition. Five of those were medal winners: Angels, a Belgium Blonde; Fire in the Hole, an Irish red ale; Carolina Belle, a honey, hibiscus, wheat ale; and Port of Arms, a robust porter, all won bronze medals. Beer Army’s Heros Never Die!!!, an American style, India pale ale, took silver, Andrews said.

“This was a huge deal for such a young company to bring home hardware like that,” he said. “It was really exciting.”

Beer Army competed with craft breweries all over North Carolina, and some that were well established, Andrews said.

“To come away with a couple of medals, everyone was ecstatic,” he said.

North Carolina has more than 100 craft breweries and brewpubs, more than any other state in the South.

“Beer Army is excited to bring the five medals back to Trenton and share the success with the rest of the small town of 287 people,” Andrews said.

Since the brewery opened a year ago in Trenton, business for Beer Army has picked up, he said.

“The coolest part is when people come in from Raleigh or somewhere else out of town, they will come in an order a beer and then they will order a pizza from Aggie’s Pizza and Subs down the road,” Andrews said. “So we are also adding to the local economy in Trenton.”

Beer Army just celebrated its first anniversary April 19. Since opening, it has hired seven new employees that help distribute beer to more than 200 accounts across North Carolina, Andrews said.

A new bottling machine now allows Beer Army to bottle its beer, which enables the company to reach the other 90 percent of the craft beer market, which will allow it to create even more jobs for the community, Andrews said.

The annual economic impact of North Carolina-produced craft beer is estimated at $791 million, which supports more than 10,000 jobs in the state. Beer Army hopes to add even more to that, Andrews said.

Eddie Fitzgerald can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at eddie.fitzgerald@newbernsj.com.